Cost-cutting measure: US embassies no longer publish air quality data

For years, U.S. agencies around the world have publicized air quality data and helped reduce air pollution. That is over.

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Mar 5, 2025 at 11:06 am CET

2 min. read

By

Martin Holland

To save money, the US State Department has stopped publishing real-time air quality data from monitoring stations at 80 embassies and consulates around the world. This was reported by the New York Times, citing an internal email from the department. A world map of the stations no longer shows data for most of them, but some still provide information. While the US newspaper's main concern is that the removal of the information endangers people from the US who live and work at the sites, the data has led to a measurable improvement in air quality in various places. The best known example is China.

Measurable improvements achieved

The first measuring station was installed at the US embassy in Beijing in 2008. Its air quality data was then tweeted on an hourly basis, with far-reaching consequences: Because it confirmed how dirty the air was in China's capital, the leadership eventually had to take action against the pollution. However, the data had previously been sharply criticized and an end to the publications had been called for. Since Tuesday, the data from the historic measuring station has no longer been updated. The New York Times quotes the US State Department as saying that the data is still being collected. But without funding, it would no longer be forwarded.

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The positive impact the measurement data had around the world following the expansion of the program in 2015 was compiled for a study in 2022. It was determined that the publication of local data resulted in an average reduction in particulate matter concentrations of 2 to 4 µg/m³. On average, the improvements would save cities more than 100 million euros per year in healthcare costs. The provision of such data would bring major health and economic improvements “that more than outweigh the costs of the technology”, it was said at the time. According to the report, local air quality monitoring is often inadequate, particularly in developing countries.